The Fire and the Veil (Veronica Barry Book 2) (25 page)

“Can’t you talk to the DA?”

Daniel leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. “Easier said than done. I’m not even on this case. I got involved when I heard Lola’s name. I remembered you talking about her. Then I went by the scene and started talking with Jerry. He was pissed because those young guys were rushing things. And then later he called me. He’s the one that told me the detectives on the case picked Lola up.”

“So what?” Veronica said.

“So, I can’t just go stomping all over someone else’s case.”

“She’s sixteen years old! How can you stand back and let this happen to her? Do you have any idea of what she’s already been through?”

“Whoa! Take it easy. I’m not the enemy.”

“But this is exactly what I’m talking about,” Veronica said. “You can’t do anything, so I have to try!”

“Wait. Just wait. I said it wouldn’t be easy, not that I’m not going to try.”

Veronica eyed him. “What will you do?”

“I can’t just go directly to the DA. I have to try talking to the detectives first.”

“Okay.”

“Unfortunately, they aren’t my biggest fans. We’ve locked horns before.”

“But you’ll talk to them?”

“I’ll call them first thing in the morning.”

“But what about Lola? She’s stuck in jail and she didn’t do anything.”

“Come on, Ronnie, you can’t expect me to get her out tonight. I promise I’ll do the best I can, but she does have a rap sheet. She’s not an angel. It’s going to be hard to convince anyone that she’s innocent and a guy with no rap sheet is guilty. I’m not going to get anyone on my side if I start calling them up at seven at night.”

“Don’t you have favors you can call in?”

“To get her out tonight? No one owes me that kind of favor. That kind of favor you need a Mafia don for. In like, a Godfather movie, maybe. We ordinary detectives aren’t so lucky.”

Veronica pressed her lips together and blew air through her nose. She didn’t want to think of Lola in jail, but the alternative—Lola on the street—wasn’t much better.

“What if she does get released. What then?”

“Probably a group home. If she’s lucky.”

“If she’s lucky?”

“She could pretty easily fall through the cracks, especially if she isn’t convicted of anything. They keep a closer eye on the ones who’ve committed crimes.”

“What do you mean, she could fall through the cracks?”

“I mean she could end up homeless. You said she was already hooking, right?”

Veronica pressed her fingers against her eyelids. “Sort of. I’m not sure.”

“Come on, Ronnie.”

“Okay. Yes. She’s done some hooking.”

“Well, if she’s like a lot of young people who don’t have a family to keep an eye on them, she’s headed for a pretty nasty future.”

“God, Daniel. How can you be so cold about it?” she asked, lowering her hands from her face.

“I’m not cold. I’ve just seen it going on for a long time.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Maybe you can’t do anything,” Daniel said.

“Then why am I having these dreams?”

“You said you haven’t had one in a while.”

Veronica bit her lip. True enough, she hadn’t. She knew she couldn’t have saved the Carvers. She had tried to report Owen’s abuse to CPS and it didn’t go anywhere. What more could she have done? But the spirits got her involved in Lola’s life for a reason. She couldn’t just sit back and watch the girl go to jail or end up on the street.

“I want to go home,” she said.

Daniel gazed at her for a moment. “Are you sure? You could stay here, if you want. I’ll even sleep out here, on the couch.”

Veronica shook her head. “I want to go home.”

Chapter 14

She was standing in the center of a narrow cell. Light came in from a window covered by a grate, illuminating two cots bolted to the painted cinderblock walls. In one cot there was a figure curled on its side, almost entirely covered by a white sheet and a worn-looking bedspread. It was hard to tell its color in the dim light. The other cot was open: hers, no doubt. Veronica knew she was seeing through Lola’s eyes again.

Lola began to pace, from the wall with the window to the door—solid metal save for two narrow parallel rectangular panes in the upper half. The cots, although they were bolted to opposite walls, were almost too close together for Lola to be able to walk between them. She looked up and glared at a camera in one corner of the ceiling.

The pacing continued. Lola’s legs felt tense, and she clenched her fists at her sides. Her heart was thudding against her chest and her teeth ground against each other. After a moment, a low moan escaped from her throat. She threw herself on the door and pounded against it. The thudding against the dense metal was not as loud as could be expected. Something yanked her shoulder, pulling her away from the door in a violent jerk. Her hair flew into her face so the first blow slammed into her cheek, unseen. Then Lola managed to wipe her hair away to see her roommate throw a second punch that hit her in the ear. The roommate was a brown-skinned girl of average build. She bared her teeth at Lola, standing over her.

“Shut the fuck up,” the girl said. “You fucking hear me, whack job? I was asleep. You woke me up! I’ll fucking make you eat your teeth if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

“Hey!” came a voice from outside. “It’s lights out, ladies!”

Lola and the girl glared at each other until the girl turned and went back to bed. Lola didn’t get up from the floor but pushed herself over to the foot of her bed. She fumbled under the end of the mattress and her fingers found something. She pulled out a composition notebook and a rubberized pencil.

FUCK YOU
she wrote and then scribbled it out. After a few moments she turned the page.
Leinani,
she wrote.
Hey girl. How’s it going.
She stopped and looked up at the camera in the corner. Her eyes glazed over, and her sight blurred. Her fingers clutched at the corners of the notebook, bruising the paper edges.

Paul says he’s got you with him but I don’t believe him. No way somebody would let him take care of you. Don’t worry, Lei, I’m gonna come get you out of there, I swear.
Lola stopped again as water splatted on the page. She wiped her eyes roughly and her fingers came away wet. She bared her teeth at the notebook and then at the camera.

She turned the page.

I’m gonna cut his fucking balls off and feed them to him I swear I’ll FUCK HIM UP

She cupped a hand over her mouth and choked down a sob. “Lei Lei, Lei Lei, oh god…” she whispered and the roommate stirred. Lola thrust her head forward and slammed it back against the wall, pain exploding with the impact. Sobs wracked Lola’s body and the roommate rose from her bed and made her way towards her.

The room dimmed and then filled with smoke. Flames engulfed the door, and it wasn’t the cell anymore, it was the bedroom in the Carver house. Veronica gasped and struggled but the sheets had her pinned down—but it wasn’t the sheets. Oozing, meaty hands held her arms and her legs, the awful, burnt faces grinned above her as flames jumped around the bed.

~~~

Fingers clawing the sheets, Veronica awoke. She moaned and began to cry, blinking her eyes wide—she was afraid that if she closed them, she’d see those faces again. She reached for her alarm clock and saw that it was one fifteen. Just enough light came in through the window to make shapes discernible. Harry put his nose on the edge of the bed, whining at her. She patted him and looked around for the cats, but they must have bolted when she awoke so violently.

She forced herself to breathe. She couldn’t stop shaking. If only she had stayed over at Daniel’s. She didn’t want to be alone. How could she bear to go back to sleep?

She felt for her cell phone and found it. Dialing Melanie, she sent her a silent apology before she heard her pick up.

“What’s it?”

“Mel. Mellie, I’m so sorry to wake you.”

“Veronica?”

“Yeah. Um. I’m sorry. Go back to sleep,” she said, but paused before hanging up.

“What’s wrong?” Melanie sounded a bit clearer. “V? What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry to be calling like this. Everything is okay, don’t worry.”

“It’s one in the morning,” Melanie said. “Everything is not okay. What happened?”

“Oh, Mellie. I had this nightmare, and today I saw the most awful things, and… and I don’t know what to do about it, but I’m scared to be alone.”

“Honey,” Melanie said. “What kind of things did you see?”

“There was a house that burned down… Daniel took me to the scene…”

There was a pause. Veronica knew what Melanie was thinking. Before the whole Grant Slecterson thing, Melanie might have rushed right over. But now, she didn’t want to leave Angie in the house alone. Veronica couldn’t blame her, but she also didn’t have a car. She would have driven over to Melanie’s house if she had. Veronica could practically hear Melanie’s gears turning in the pause on the other end of the line. Should she wake Angie up and bring her along? Should she call Veronica a cab?

“It’s okay, Mel,” Veronica said, trying to sound convincing. “I’m fine. I’ll come over tomorrow and have breakfast. I’ll tell you all about it.”

“V, just hang on, okay. I’ll call my mom and have her come over, and I’ll be right there,” Melanie said.

“No! No, Mel. Don’t wake up Grace. She’ll never forgive me.”

“Forget it, V. It’s already done.”

Melanie hung up.

Veronica groaned and buried her face in her covers.

~~~

Harry gave two or three half-hearted barks when Melanie got to the door, but he knew who she was and did it just for show. Veronica let her friend in. Melanie still wore her pajamas, with a jacket thrown on and her feet in gardening clogs.

“Hey,” Veronica said.

Melanie reached out and hugged her tightly. “Sweetie. You holding up okay?” She asked when she released Veronica.

“Yeah, I am. I’m sorry I woke you up. You didn’t have to come over. Is Grace going to kill me?”

“When I left she was still pretty confused about everything. I bet by tomorrow she’ll have figured out exactly how she wants you executed, though.”

“Oh, god,” Veronica moaned.

“Look, it’s my own fault because I’m so paranoid about leaving Angie alone. I don’t think I’m ever going to recover from all that.” Melanie took Veronica’s hand and led them to the couch, where they sat. “It’s just—what if she wakes up and she needs me and I’m not there? At least she has someone, if Mom’s there.”

Veronica nodded.

“Okay,” Melanie said. “So spill. What is going on?”

“Do you want some tea?”

Melanie raised her eyebrows.

“I’m not stalling,” Veronica said. “I’ll tell you the whole long awful story. But do you want some tea first?”

“Okay,” Melanie said. “Peppermint.”

Veronica gave her arm a pat and got up to make the tea. She tried to organize her thoughts as she did, so that she could tell the story as succinctly as possible. When she got back and sat down with their mugs, she said, “Okay, you know how I’ve been dreaming about Lola Hekili?”

“The girl in Angie’s class,” Melanie confirmed.

“Yes. And you know how I was looking for that woman? The one Khalilah was concerned about?”

“Yes,” Melanie said.

“Well, they both turned up at the Peach Walnut Motel. I wouldn’t have found Amani—that’s the woman—without your help. So thank you for that. But as it turns out, she didn’t need to be found.”

Melanie blew on her tea and raised her eyebrows at Veronica.

“She was in hiding, not missing or kidnapped. Some people staged her abduction—”

“What?”

“I know, it sounds crazy, but I guess it’s something these people have done before. It’s like an underground railroad for women stuck in these oppressive situations… anyway. So I realized that the reason I wasn’t getting very good clues from the other side was probably because they didn’t want me finding her. I mean, she was fine and I was sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong.”

“Well, who can blame you? Those people made it look like she was abducted. That’s not exactly a good way to have someone disappear without anyone noticing.”

Veronica nodded. “And so I was so caught up in this whole Amani investigation with Khalilah, that I really wasn’t paying very close attention to what the dreams were showing me about Lola. I wish I had, because things went from bad to worse with her.”

“Really? Didn’t you tell me she was prostituting herself for a place to stay? And now it’s
worse?
”

“Her house burned down, and her mother and step-father were killed,” Veronica said.

“Oh my god.”

“Yeah, and the police have arrested Lola for it.”

“Oh no.”

“Daniel came and got me yesterday and took me to the scene to see if I could get anything.”

“He’s finally embraced that you’re psychic, huh?” Melanie said with a small smile.

“I guess so.”

“About time.”

Veronica took a breath and explained what she knew about Paul Carver and his role in the fire. She frowned as she recalled Lola’s panic for Leinani. “I had another dream,” Veronica said. “Lola’s in this tiny cell. Her roommate hit her—it’s awful, Mellie. And from what I could tell, Lola’s terrified that Paul has her sister. At some point she must have talked to him and he told her he has her. So she’s totally freaked out.”

“Is that the nightmare you mentioned before, on the phone?”

“Yeah, but it got worse. At the end, it’s like the ghosts of her parents interrupted. All of a sudden I was in that burning room again, and they were holding me down. I’m afraid to shut my eyes, Mel.”

Melanie let out a breath. “That’s… wow. That sucks.”

“I think they’re so angry—they’ve realized they can communicate with me—that they can show me these things—I don’t want to see them anymore, though. I’ve got the point, you know? I don’t need to have nightmares about their deaths over and over.”

“Man, V. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry I made you come over,” Veronica said. “I just didn’t want to be alone. They may figure out that they can mess with me when I’m awake next.”

“What are you going to do? How can you make them leave you alone?”